Hueco Revival
by Truthfulpen
Summary: Inspired by a recent turn of events, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, Urahara and Orihime conspire to bring back some powerful Arrancar in a bid to create a new subdivision of warriors in Soul Society. Multi-Pairing. Arrancar-Centric.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know I said I would wait till the readers from my other story Unconventional Unions pm'd me/left reviews telling me if they thought this story would be worthwhile publishing, but screw it. I am in love with the idea of this story and I really wanted to share it with the lovely people on this website**

**I know writing fanfiction set during current arcs can be risky/messy but I'm okay with this story not necessarily working out the same as what happens in the manga. Besides, the fact that the ARRANCAR and tons of non-canon pairings will be featured in this story has already veered it away from being even close to canon.**

**Anyway, I don't want to bore you anymore with my ramblings, so without further adieu, here is Hueco revival!**

I Do Not Own Bleach

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Arrogance was the downfall of the shinigami. The very name by which they styled themselves stunk of their supercilious bigotry. The name Shinigami derived from 'Shini' death, 'gami/kami' god; the Gods of death. They named themselves as if they were some sort of all powerful benevolent force; the only ones who decided who deserved the right to live. It was laughable really when one thought of the reality of their situation. They were nothing more than the pawns of an 'omnipresent' being who deigned concerning himself with the affairs of his own creations too bothersome. Kami was an absentee parent, in essence. Shinigami were nothing more than one of the many babysitters of the world and its children. By their own misguided enthusiasm they had come to the conclusion that they were more important than they truly were.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri scoffed as he entered a series of complicated passcodes into the user interface of a rarely frequented portion of the 12th division. It was that same arrogance that had nearly cost them the thousand year blood war and almost cost the soutaichou his life. Almost. If it weren't for the sheer chaos that the realms were thrown into when the Quincy bastards had invaded and raised hell in the spirit world, powerful souls like the soutaichou and Kyoraku would've been reborn in the realm of the living and their chances of restoration would have been lost forever. Fortunately for them, the sheer level of spiritual destruction that Yhwach and his minions had wrought on the realms caused a sort of purgatory-esque realm to be created where all the souls with considerable amounts of reiatsu who 'died' ended up during the war. Souls with considerable reiatsu were too powerful to be processed in the cycle of reincarnation as it was on the verge of collapse, and thus only the souls who possessed little to no reiatsu were capable of transcending to the world of the living or transcending to soul society. The buildup of reiatsu possessing souls who needed to experience transcension (which was impossible at the universe's state at the time) caused an irregularity in the inter-realm network. To save itself from implosion the multiverse created a rift the within itself, causing a small realm to be formed in the apex of the network where all of the powerful souls were filtered into limbo as the multiverse tried desperately to hold itself together under the circumstances. It was only due to Mayuri's sheer brilliance (and Urahara's he grudgingly admitted to himself) and the kami-defying abilities of Inoue Orihime that there was any hope for those who were stuck in the purgatory realm before it became disconnected from the cycle of incarnation of the universe. A self-satisfactory smirk crossed the mad scientist's lips as he recalled how he discovered what was happening to the multiverse.

_Kurotsuchi Mayuri had once hypothesized in his early days before his imprisonment in the maggots nest what might happen in an event such as this. He had broached the subject of a universe that was potentially far more complex than once thought to his peers, and they had mocked him. They called his theories drabbles of fiction and nearly laughed him out of his fraternity. 'Fools,' he almost spat aloud. If he hadn't slaughtered the lot of them he would have enjoyed seeing the looks on their faces at the realization that he had been onto something all along. Hell, he probably would have enjoyed belittling their simple-mindedness more than he enjoyed running them through with ashisogi jizo. 'Vindication would certainly have trumped wasting away my talents amongst those Barbarians in that deplorable prison. Alas, hindsight is 20/20. ' Mayuri thought in passing as his hands flew furiously over buttons on the control panel console. He would have to make a mental note to himself not to kill respected scientists from well-to-do families in his fits of rage, or maybe create a prompt for Nemu to incapacitate him if the thought ever happened to cross his mind again._

_The multiverse was clearly on its very last prongs of stability, a hairs breadth away from complete collapse. Even though the threat of Yhwach had been neutralized the very fabric of existence still seemed to be bursting at the seams as the multiverse continued to spiral out of balance. Though to be accurate, since nearly annihilating the Quincy over 200 years ago the multiverse had never truly been in balance, and chaotic souls continued to recycle themselves between the realms, wreaking havoc every generation or so. In the Quincy's absence however the number of destructive souls in the world seemed to grow alarmingly, and the current state of the human world was testament to this. The sheer amount of overwhelmingly devious souls who corrupted and destroyed the Earth, creating disease and suffering in their wake was higher than ever in the recorded history of the multiverse. There were simply too many fatally flawed souls who kept being re-filtered through the cycle of reincarnation, and not enough new souls being created in their stead. But the lack of Quincy's didn't appear to be the problem at the moment, Mayuri observed as several monitors beamed to life in his laboratory. Something was causing an overload in the multiverse, and he was almost positive he knew why. One look at the large screen in front of him confirmed his suspicions: Souls of the recently deceased were not passing into their respective 'next lives'. This was not good at all._

"_Nemu! Consolidate the universal death-birth rate data across the realms at once!" Mayuri yelled as he quickly begun working with another set of screens and consoles._

"_Hai Kurotsuchi-Taichou" said Nemu reflexively as she set out to complete her task._

_Kurotsuchi wasted no time prompting the computers within his reach to begin calibrating to the complicated sequences he typed out. His intuition and sense of fore planning had almost never led him astray before, so he was confident in his course of action. There would no doubt that the world was in an impossibly precarious calamity at this point, and no matter the outcome there were an unprecedented number of possibilities to explore in the wake of his new discoveries. He would salivate right now if it were not utterly unbecoming._

"_I knew you'd be on the job by the time I got here" a voice said behind him._

"_Unlike you I abhor idle procrastination in the stead of exploring the explorable, Urahara Kisuke" He said casually, briefly turning his head to look at the former 12__th__ Division Captain before setting his focus back on the computers he was tinkering with._

"_Ah, but if you never take time to smell the roses you'll never get to really appreciate how brilliant each exploration really is." Kisuke said, adjusting his hat on his head as moved to stand beside Mayuri._

"'_Tch. Save your rhetoric for that band of misfits you're responsible for minding, I have a ground-breaking discovery to make"_

"_You believe that the Wandenreich's corrosive manipulation of the reishi of Soul Society and Hueco Mundo has begun to tear our existence apart, don't you?" Kisuke said knowingly, observing the multiple screens the scientist had streaming information and generating images._

"_More than that. The damage they've done has prevented souls from being able to transcend between soul society, the human world, and Hueco Mundo" Mayuri responded, eyes never leaving the screen in front of him._

"_If they're not passing through the cycle of reincarnation, what is happening to all the souls of those that have succumbed to death during this war?" _

"_That is what I am in the process of figuring out" Mayuri replied tersely._

_Just then, Nemu returned with a stack of papers in hand walking briskly towards the two men. She gave Kisuke a slight nod of acknowledgement before addressing her Taichou._

"_Kurotsuchi-Taichou I have completed the task that you have asked of me. I collected the birth-death rate data across the realms based on the net total of fluctuations of reishi and matter as a result of the emergence of sentient life. Based on the numbers our inter-realm monitors have collected I have found that the ratio of birth to the net total of deaths recorded is approximately 15 emergences of sentient life, or 'births', to every thousand deaths" Both Mayuri and Kisuke visibly stiffened at the alarming news, but said nothing as Nemu continued to speak._

"_This revelation led me to believe that there must be some sort of fatal error in our monitoring system, but I assure you Kurotsuchi-Taichou such is not the case. Upon closer inspection of the details of 30 individual inter-realm wide emergences, I discovered that they were the reincarnations of beings that contained no reiatsu or reiatsu potential within them. All of these reincarnations appeared in the human world, and originated in soul society. I attempted to locate the reishi migration of the remaining souls which possessed high levels of reiatsu and I was met with the discovery that in between their migration from one realm to another these souls seem to 'disappear' through what appears to be a rift in time-space"_

"_It is as I suspected. The stress the Wandenreich has put on the cycle of reincarnation has forced the multiverse to create a new realm to act as a storing pool for souls that it cannot process and reincarnate without undoing itself entirely." Mayuri said ominously, clasping his hands together._

"_Which means there might still be hope for the Soutaichou and the other members of the Gotei 13 who have lost their lives during this war" Added Kisuke, not mentioning the one particular devastating loss he had experienced as a result of Yhwach's war machine._

"_I should be able to finish constructing a navigation system which would allow me to locate the storing realm that these souls are being transported to within the hour. However, actually extracting these souls without utterly destroying what little balance is left tethering the multiverse together may be potentially problematic" _

"_Maybe, but Maybe not." Kisuke said thoughtfully. "We may need to enlist the help of Inoue-san's powers for this. Without a doubt the girl does not yet possess the knowledgeability or strength to help us on her own, but with a bit of engineering on our part we may be able to amplify the scope of her powers in order solve this problem once and for all"_

"_Hn. Very well then. Nemu retrieve Inoue Orihime at once… and if her foolishly stubborn Kurosaki comrade attempts to stop you, tell him Urahara sent you" He said rapping his fingers against his cane._

That had been a little more than two weeks ago. They had been quite fortunate to have succeeded at retrieving the souls of reiatsu possessing Shinigami and returning balance to the worlds as best as they could, Mayuri thought as headed down the corridor of the restricted area of the 12th division. The events of the thousand year blood war had taken an apathetic Mayuri and enlightened him to a point where it could not be helped that he had to take matters into his own hands. His old mentor's musings and philosophy on life was starting to make more sense to him the further he involved himself in this potentially ground breaking project of his. While he was by no means concerned with the personal affairs of the idiots who had surrounded him in this life, but he'd be damned if he would allow archaic strains of bigotry to prematurely end his quest to discover the great mysteries of existence. If he had learned anything during that war, especially against Giselle Gewell, it was that his 'collection' was far more useful than he'd ever imagined. It was obvious that the gotei 13 was not enough to keep the realms in balance anymore. A new age of guardianship was required if there was to be any hope of maintaining balance. The purist mentality that only shinigami could protect the realms was foolish, and was what had nearly led them to the brink of utter destruction. Quincy's, powerful humans, Shinigami, and Arrancar alike were all a necessary part of existence. A legion of guardians of the realms should be reflective of that undeniable truth. Mayuri pressed his hand against a door at the end of the corridor, and the sound of gears unlocking themselves clattered in his ears as the doors receded to reveal a large incubation room. It was a shame that the prototypes he used against Giselle had ended up getting purified. However, their powers paled in comparison to the ones of those he had in the in this room before him; he would have gladly given the prototype Arrancar up if it meant preserving the lives of his more treasured collections. Urahara Kisuke would be here soon with the girl and the _others_; there was much work to be done. If they intended to be successful with their proposition to the newly restored members of the gotei 13, they would need to complete this project by the time the revived taichou's were well enough to be present for a Taichou-class meeting which would be the first since the utter destruction of the seireitei and parts of rukongai.

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**A/N: That's it for now. If I get at least 7 reviews for this story then i'll post the next chapter. If not then I'll take the hint and leave this one as a one-shot (ish). I hate to give reviewers 'ultimatums' so to speak, but I don't want to end up 80k words and 10+ chapters deep into a story that barely anyone reads again. As much as I love all of my writings it simply isn't prudent to be rushing home from school and work to write a story that no one except me cares about :/**

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2: Little Black Dress

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed and encouraged me to keep working on this project. I've been feeling very inspired this past week so I decided to post up this chapter. I'll be posting the continuing chapter very soon. R&amp;R if you like this chapter, and feel free to suggest pairings that you'd like to see later on in the story.**

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_I Do Not Own Bleach_

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"Ano… do you think I'm overdressing?"

Orihime fidgeted with the hem of the purple peplum dress as she looked herself over in the mirror. She had tried out 6 different outfits so far, but she hadn't found one that would fit just right. After two attempts at trying to put together a t-shirt and jeans ensemble she had decided she absolutely wanted to wear a dress. The problem was, none of the dresses she had seemed to fit the occasion. The yellow cocktail dress had been much too flashy. The baby-blue spaghetti strap dress hugged her curves a little too tightly to be practical and appropriate. Her forest-green shirtwaist dress reminded her too much of _his_ eyes, and the dress she had on now seemed too business casual to wear while she would be in Kurotsuchi's lab.

Tatsuki raised up from the magazine she was perusing to take a good look at her strawberry blonde friend.

"I don't know. Maybe if you actually told me where you were going I would be able to give you an answer"

Orihime pouted at the words of her best friend. She hated keeping secrets from Tatsuki but Urahara and Kurotsuchi had been adamant about her keeping their 'operation' under wraps, especially from Ichigo and their circle of friends. Their reasons made sense, especially because of how drastically her and her friends' lives would change in the coming weeks, and how tentative the situation really was. Blabbing to everyone about what would arguably be one of the most controversial initiatives in the history of EVER probably wouldn't be a good idea. The Millenium Blood War had revealed so many things that it made Orihime's head hurt just thinking about it.

"I… It's complicated Tatsuki-chan. I promised I wouldn't say anything until after it was safe. When it's over we'll talk, I promise" she tried to reassure her undoubtedly annoyed friend. Tatsuki hated it when things were hidden from her, especially when it concerned her friends. Orihime, being the empath that she was tried to give her best friend some consolation by promising to tell her everything later.

"Does this have to do with Ichigo?"

Orihime bit her lip nervously, trying to figure out how to say something without saying anything at all. "Ah… Yes and no"

"Does he know anything about this?"

"No he doesn't, and I need it to stay that way. If he finds out what's going on he'll overreact and try to protect me." She replied evenly as she put a mauve scarf to her neck to see if it would match. This purple dress wouldn't do she'd decided. The hem of the overskirt had little bits of frayed string at the end. She plucked them experimentally, as she looked around her now messy bedroom for a dress that was in slightly better condition. She wouldn't want anyone to think she didn't have good clothes._ 'I should pick up sewing again and hem this overskirt. Tailors are getting far too expensive these days'_ she thought wistfully.

Tatsuki had put down the magazine she was reading at this point and was giving Orihime her full attention, eyes alert and searching. "Is there something that you need to be protected from Orihime? I don't want those soul society people putting you in danger"

Orihime huffed in annoyance. "I'm not in any danger! And even if I was in any danger I'm strong enough to help myself" there was a slight edge to her voice as she spoke. She was immediately struck with guilt when she saw the look on her raven haired friends face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"Its fine, I get it. I just worry, you know? So much has happened over the years and barely anyone bothers to tell me anything. It's hard not to be overprotective when you don't know what's going on with the people you love. You're like a sister to me Orihime-chan." Tatsuki was slightly taken by the sudden edge to her friend's voice but she didn't allow herself to take it personally. She understood Orihime's frustration with being babied all the time, especially by the man who had been the object of her affections when she was a younger teen. A grown woman who'd virtually raised herself didn't want or need people trying to control her life, especially not Kurosaki.

"I know and I'm sorry to keep you in the dark about everything, but I'm going to change that." Orihime bit her lip nervously before she spoke again. She absentmindedly hoped that Urahara and Kurotsuchi hadn't bugged her with some weird spy camera or listening chip. She didn't want to be dissected by oompa loompas in Kurotsuchi's lab for breaking her non-disclosure. Maybe if she told the half-truth she'd only be halfway dissected. Wait, was that even possible?

"Ano, I can't tell you everything yet but basically Ichigo got rid of the bad guy but almost made the world go BOOM in the process. Urahara-san and Kurotsuchi-taichou fixed everything with the help of my powers. Now they need my help for something else"

All Tatsuki could manage was an astonished blink.

"You saved the world with your powers? How?"

"Yes. And I can't tell you yet Tatsuki-chan"

"So why do you need to dress up then if you're just helping out that old perv and the guy with the weird makeup?"

"… Because I'm also going to see an old friend again when I go there today"

Tatsuki raised a teasing eyebrow at that. "_Just_ a friend?"

Orihime felt her cheeks go hot at Tatsuki's insinuating tone. "It's not like that Tatsuki! At least I don't believe it is… it's been a very long time since I've seen Ul –" she stammered as she realized she'd almost given away too much information. "– Since I've seen my friend" she corrected herself.

"The last time we had seen each other… things didn't end that well. I just wanted to give a good impression when he returns"

Tatsuki smiled at her childhood friend. It made sense now why she was being so picky about what to wear today, and even why she'd decided to add inky black streaks to her strawberry blonde locks; there was someone she wanted to impress. A small part of her was glad it wasn't Ichigo she was doing all of this for, which was her concern in the beginning. Ichigo was a great guy, but hardly boyfriend material for someone like Orihime. He'd stifle her with his well-meaning overprotectiveness, and she'd never have the heart to tell him when to back off. Now that she knew the purpose of Orihime's trip (or at least all that she could know for now without pressuring the poor girl) Tatsuki had some renewed vigor. Hopping off of the bed she was sitting on Tatsuki dashed to the other girl's closet.

"Stay there for a minute; I think I know what would be absolutely perfect for you to wear today"

Reaching her hand into the far left corner of Orihime's closet and pulled out a large box.

"Remember that time that we went thrift shopping in West Tokyo?" she said as she opened up the box

"Hai, I remember" Orihime watched intently as Tatsuki rummaged through the contents of the box until she found what she was looking for and pulled it out.

"This dress that you bought there would be perfect. The black tendrils on it match the streaks in your hair"

The dress was a black and white vintage style cocktail dress. The top portion of the dress was solid black with long sleeves and vertical pleats. The bottom half of the dress was a flared out knee-length white skirt that had soft black tendrils vertically travelling down the length of it. It was intricate but simple, casual yet classy.

"Oh that looks perfect Tatsuki-chan! Let me try it on" Orihime beamed as she eyed the dress. She had completely forgotten about it all this time since it was holed up in a box deep in her closet. A few moments later she had wriggled out of the purple dress and slipped on the black and white one. One quick look in the mirror told her that she had found the right dress.

"You look great Orihime" Tatsuki admired, giving her best friend and roommate a quick once over.

Orihime flashed Tatsuki a bright smile in appreciation for the compliment. "Now all I have to do is fix my hair…"

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"Quit dickin' around Kisuke! I don't wanna be holed up in this dump! Let's just fuckin' leave!" an angry voice bellowed through the shoten.

"Lower your voice Jaegerjaquez. The shinigami is waiting for the girl." Snapped an irritated Harribel. The blue haired former Espada was really starting to grate on her nerves with his obnoxious yelling.

"Tier is right Grimm-kun; we need to wait for Orihime-chan before we leave." Added Nel, albeit more softly. Thanks to Orihime repairing her mask she was finally restored to her adult form, standing a leggy 5"9 at her full height.

"'Tch. Whatever." The blue haired man grumbled, folding his arms over his chest and walking out the front of the shoten.

"Should we call him back?" Nel asked the fellow former tres espada across from her.

"No point" the blonde responded making a gesture with her hands. "If he wants to pout about being reprimanded then it is his choice. So long as he keeps his reiatsu hidden we needn't pursue him."

Nel shrugged. "I guess you're right"

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Despite Orihime begging her not to, Tatsuki had been insistent on following her to Urahara's shoten. She had all but handcuffed herself to Orihime as she headed out the door, ignoring all of her protests. She knew the Orihime had meant it when she said that she'd tell her everything later, but she just couldn't in good conscience let her friend disappear for god knows how long again without at least seeing her off.

"Ne… Tatsuki-chan we're almost at the shoten…"

"Good."

"You don't have to follow me all the way…"

"I know I don't have to, but I want to."

Orihime sighed. If she thought she'd be half dissected before she was almost certain that she'd be fully dissected by the two scientists once Kisuke spotted her with Tatsuki. 3/4ths dissected at the least. As they entered the compound of the shoten Orihime spotted a flash of blue. In less than a millisecond the blue streak had appeared right in front of them in the form of a tall man, bumping straight into Tatsuki and causing her to falter in her step and almost fall.

"About fuckin' time you got here" the blue haired Arrancar said flashing a toothy smirk the blonde's way, completely ignorant of the woman he'd just bumped into.

"Hey, watch it asshole!" Tatsuki shouted, a scowl adorning her features.

"Who's your friend?" he asked sending a curious glance Tatsuki's way.

"Ah, this is Tatsuki. Tatsuki this is, Jaegerjaquez-san"

Tatsuki fixed Grimmjow with a sour glare, still smarting from the impact of his collision and still miffed that he hadn't so much as acknowledged the fact that he had bumped into her. "I hope this shit head isn't who you got dressed up for Orihime" she remarked resting a hand on her hip in contempt.

"Oi! you talking shit, squirrel mane?" He was in her personal space now, matching her glare with an equally disapproving scowl. Despite the Arrancar imposing physique and threatening aura, Tatsuki refused to back down.

"Hell yeah I am, douche."

"Skunk"

"Bastard"

"Bitch"

"Dirty dog"

"Whoa whoa whoa, I'm not a fucking dog!" Grimmjow exclaimed, heckles rising.

"Could've fooled me Blue's Clues"

At Tatsuki's last comment Orihime burst into a fit of giggles as the image of Grimmjow as the star of a show for young children came to life in her imagination. She attempted to stifle her giggles when Grimmjow sent her a glare, but she failed miserably.

"What the fuck is a 'Blue's Clues'!? Why is that funny!?'" he asked incredulously

"Figure it out" Tatsuki said stalking off. "Let's go Orihime" she added, and Orihime followed after her. All Grimmjow could do was look at the raven haired girl in ire and slight amusement. She was a spunky little chick; he had to give her that.

Once inside the shoten Tatsuki let out a huff of frustration. "That shinigami guy a total douchebag! How'd you end up being friends with him?"

"It's a long story Tatsuki-chan, but Jaegerjaquez-san isn't a shinigami"

"Eh? What the hell could he be if not a Shinigami? Humans don't move that fast unless they're Quincy, and he didn't look anything like Uryu"

"Well he's neither Shinigami nor Quincy. He's actually an…"

"Arrancar" another voice butt in. From the left end of the shoten two figures walked into the center of the room. One was a tall dark skinned woman with short bleach blonde hair whose face was mostly concealed by the neck of her shirt. The other was an equally tall female with long turquoise hair and what appeared to be a rams skull helmet.

"Excuse our compatriots behaviour… he can be a bit brash at times" the blonde woman said.

"Ohayou, Orihime-chan! Who's your friend?" the Turquoise haired woman chimed, waving at Orihime.

Orihme politely waved back at the two women. "Ohayou Nel-san, Tier-san. This is Tatsuki"

"It's nice to finally meet you tatsuki-chan! I have heard so much about you!" Nel said excitedly and grabbing Tatsuki into a quick but strong hug. Initially shocked by the unusually friendly gesture, Tatsuki reciprocated the hug after hesitating for a moment.

"It's nice to meet you too, uh…" Tatsuki started,

"Neliel Tu Odelshwanck. But everyone calls me Nel" the turquoise haired woman offered. "The pretty blonde over there is my ally Tier Harribel, and the big dummy you met outside is my other ally, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."

Tatsuki smiled at the two women. "Well it's nice to meet you both. I can't really say the same for you friend outside though"

"Understandable, his personality takes some getting used to. He grows on you with time" Tier said meaningfully.

"I doubt I'll be around him long enough to find out. I'm just here to speak to Urahara and then I'll be on my way."

"Ah" Tier said in understanding.

The four women fell into somewhat of a companionable silence as they waited for Urahara to come out from wherever he was. After a few minutes Grimmjow had walked back into the shoten but had said nothing to either of the arrancar women or to the human females in the room. After what seemed like hours rolled by, the clanking sound of geta against the wooden floor alerted them of a presence approaching the back door of the shoten. As expected, the door opened to reveal a slightly disheveled looking Urahara.

"Sorry I took so long everyone, I was putting the final touches on our transportation." He said apologetically behind his fan. Noticing the extra occupant of the room he turned to Orihime.

"I see you've brought a plus one" he said raising an eyebrow at the young woman.

"I didn't mean to! Please don't dissect me Urahara-san!" Orihime wailed, flailing her arms dramatically. The other occupants of the room sweat dropped at the shun shun rikka user's dramatic display.

"Dissect you? Why on earth would I do that?" he asked quizzically. That girl's imagination was really something else.

Sighing, Tatsuki spoke up for her friend. "I forced her to bring me with her, and she's worried you and the creep with the face paint are going to 'dissect' her for letting me know that you had business with her."

"Ah," Kisuke said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Well it is a bit inconvenient that she was unable to keep our project a secret, but I suppose it can't be helped; we would've needed you here eventually. It's better that she spilled her involvement to you, than say Kurosaki or Ishida."

Tatsuki gave Urahara a strange look. "Why would you need me?"

Kisuke adjusted his hat and gave her a cryptic smile. "That's something that's better left for a discussion at a later time, Arisawa-san. Right now there is some business in Soul Society that needs taking care of first."

"What's with everyone wanting to tell me things 'later'?" she said throwing up her hands. "Ugh, anyway I just wanted to make sure that Orihime would be alright here. But since you're all keeping secrets together, I guess there's nothing for me to be worried about. I'll see you later Orihime." With that Tatsuki headed for the exit of the shoten, only to be stopped by Urahara's voice.

"I'm afraid I can't let you leave Arisawa-san."

She turned around and raised an eyebrow at the sandy haired man. "Why not?"

"Because you know that Orihime and I are up to something, and you are a good friend of Ichigo's. I can't have you out and about, running the risk of telling anyone else. What if you accidentally tell someone else and it leads back to Ichigo? Or worse yet, members of the Gotei?"

"I'll keep my lips sealed if that's what you're worried about" she replied tersely.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to take your word for it. Too much depends on this mission for me to allow any unnecessary risks."

"So you expect me to stay cooped up in your weird candy shop until you're finished what you're doing?" she asked indignantly

"Quite the contrary Arisawa-san: I actually intend on bringing you with us. It's a little impromptu but in the long run bringing you with us now won't make much difference"

"I'm guessing I don't have much of a choice in this then?"

"No, unfortunately you don't. But don't worry no one will be getting 'dissected'" he said with a laugh at the end.

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**A/N: That's all for now. Chapter 3 is already written and will be up soon.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Heart

** Here is Chapter 3 as promised. I'll post the next chapter when time allows. Thank you to everyone who read and followed this story. I appreciate every last show of support. It motivates me to write more than you might imagine. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the story. Enjoy**

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Kisuke had led the group which composed of two humans and three arrancar down into the basement of the shoten, where he had a large portal device set up. He explained that because he and Mayuri had agreed to construct the portals on either side of the realms to prevent the detectors from picking up the presence of Hollow reiatsu stepping through a senkaimon, or worse yet alert the seireitei by having one of the Arrancar open up a garganta. At Tatsuki and Orihime's insistence Kisuke had allowed Tatsuki to text her mother and provide her with an excuse for why she wouldn't be coming home this weekend. The girl had barely gotten to finish sending her message before Kisuke had all but shoved her through the portal along with the rest of the group she was with. The portal was strange, Orihime had noted; totally different from the senkaimon or Garganta or even the dangai which she was used to travelling in. Once they'd passed through the portal they entered a sort of slip-space stasis while the world around them seemed to move in a collage of intermingling color.

Kisuke had explained that because this method of travel was different from the ones that were typically used to enter Soul Society, it would take them far longer than usual to reach their destination. Given that they had a great deal of time on their hands along the way Kisuke and Orihime used that time to fill Tatsuki in on the events of the last few years. To say the girl was shocked would've been a complete understatement. She had known a few things about what had happened involving the Winter War, but the latest events floored her in no small way. Despite their openness with filling her in on the events that had occurred over the last few years they had completely clammed up when she'd inquired about how all of this connected to her. It worried Tatsuki quite significantly that they wouldn't fill her in, but she knew there was nothing that she could do about it for now.

As they'd reached the end of their travel they were expelled rather abruptly from the portal and out into an open room. Losing her balance during the process, Tatsuki grabbed tightly onto the person nearest her hands in order to steady herself. In her desperate attempt to maintain her balance she hadn't noticed that the person she had grabbed on to was none other than the object of her ire, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. She looked up to see him staring down at her, his features not indicating much, but his eyes appraising her with a kind of scrutiny which made her uncomfortable. She quickly released him and composed herself, avoiding eye contact with the blue haired man, instead focusing on her new surroundings. They were in a large white room that was relatively sparse. The only things in the room were a control panel, and a few cupboards covered with lab instruments that ran the perimeter of the room. By the control panel was the unmistakeable Kurotsuchi Mayuri who appeared heavily occupied by whatever was on the screen he was looking at.

"You never cease to prove your worthlessness as an accomplice Urahara. Not only is your punctuality grossly lacking, but you managed to break the clause of our agreement by bringing an unauthorized person into my lab" Mayuri said without ever looking back at the newest occupants.

"There is no need for concern Mayuri; Arisawa-san here is one of the people I was telling you about. But I'm sure you could sense that already" Urahara explained.

"From the moment she stepped in it was rather noticeable" Mayuri replied flippantly with a wave of his hand. "If you're finished with stating the obvious then let us begin. Nemu will be here shortly when she has finished her task in the adjacent room.

Urahara nodded affirmatively. "Right then, Inoue-san you brought that box with you today right?" he looked expectantly at the girl.

"Ah, yes I have it right here" she said, retrieving a small black box from her bag.

"Excellent. Now, in a moment Kurotsuchi-san will raise a large tank up from the ground. I need you to place the contents of that box into the tank. Once that is done then I'll tell you what to do next." Kisuke instructed.

True to Kisuke's words, Mayuri raised a large containment tank up from the ground. There was a ladder that ran along the side of the capsule that Orihime used to allow her to reach the top of the tank. She turned the hatch wheel on the top of the tank and lifted it up to allow her to place the contents of the box into it. It was at that moment that the full weight of what she was about to pull off hit her. Her knees felt weak and her palms were sweaty but she forced herself to reign in her emotions. If she wasn't careful she might destroy her last chance at making things right. Looking down at the box in her hand she squeezed it firmly, trying to keep her mind on the memory that was driving her as opposed to the stakes at hand. She opened the box to reveal an eyeball with a distinctively green iris. It hadn't changed at all since the time he'd given it to her, as strange a gesture as it was. What she had initially thought was a strange gift idea had turned out to be something she would be forever thankful for. If this worked out (and she prayed and hoped it would), she would have to give him her thanks again for his very thoughtful present. Inhaling deeply she picked the eyeball out of the box, and very carefully placed it into the now liquid filled containment tank. She closed the tank and tightened the hatch wheel before climbing down the ladder to rejoin Urahara who was now beside Kurotsuchi as opposed to with Tatsuki and the arrancar on the other side of the room.

"What do you need me to do next?" she asked the scientists as she approached them.

Kisuke was the one to answer her query. "Kurotsuchi-san is going to turn on the power switch that is connected to the generator below the tank. When he does this, focus your powers on the eyeball, with the aim to restore Ulquiorra's body and consciousness. You must be absolutely focused on Ulquiorra and things pertaining to him –good or bad – through this process. Replay a memory if necessary."

She nodded, and obediently went to stand in front of the tank. After a moment the tank was enveloped by the roar of energy that was being emitted from the generator and Orihime took that point as her cue to activate her shun shun rikka. The orange shield enveloped the tank as Orihime closed her eyes in concentration, her focus entirely on one of the fonder memories she had of the fourth Espada.

.

.

_She jumped when she had heard the door open even though she already knew who had entered the room. She felt his reiatsu approaching long before he reached her quarters, but he still managed to surprise her anyway. She wasn't so much surprised at the fact that he had entered her quarters as much as she was jolted by the presence of his spiritual essence, as she always was when they were in close proximity. There was something innately hair-raising about his reiatsu, even when he was being non-threatening to her. There was an empty, void quality to it, even though she knew his spiritual pressure was quantitatively vast and overwhelming. One could liken his reiatsu to a big empty vase: it took up large amounts of space, but it was devoid of substance, character. Without flowers, water, rocks, or shells and the like, the vase was quite purposeless; a waste of space. Whenever she felt the vast hollow timbre of his reiatsu, a small part of her that wasn't alarmed by its bareness wished to help him fill the void in his soul that had shamelessly bled itself into his reiatsu. But one look at the pale skinned Arrancar would always cause the more logical part of her to remind her that such a thing was not possible. He was too forbidding, too unwilling to allow another to change him so intimately. Besides, he was an enemy wasn't he?_

"_Onna" he said as he walked up to stand beside her at the window._

"_Hmm?"_

"_Why do you insist on staring out the window if you know the view will never change?"_

"_You already know the answer to that Ulquiorra" she didn't look at him as she spoke. She didn't need to. His expression never changed, whether he was giving her an implicit compliment or he was criticizing her for being weak or delusional. Always the same face, always the same empty, blank expression. It was a shame though; big, bold, beautiful eyes like his deserved to be used for more than just staring people (Orihime for the most part) into submission or striking fear into the hearts of others._

"_Your motives are as pointless as ever, but I have not come here to criticize you at this time." He was looking intently at her, and he knew she could feel the heat of his gaze._

_Ripping her eyes away from the desert scenery she turned to look at the Cuatro Espada. "What did you come for then?"_

"_To give you this" he retrieved a small black box from his pocket and placed it in her hands._

"_A gift? Arigatou Ulquiorra-san" she beamed at him, her smile genuine._

"_How can you thank me if you have not opened it? You have yet to determine its use"_

"_Because it's a gift, and that's what you do when people give you gifts." She explained._

"_Your reasoning is illogical. Open it"_

_She giggled at his remark but did as he said anyway. When she saw what was in the contents of the box she let out a shocked gasp._

"_Your eye…"_

"_You do not appreciate it?" he queried, voice as emotionless as ever._

"_No no no it's not that! I love your eyes – not in the creepy way – but I mean I-I… I just don't understand. Don't you need your eye? And how did you grow one back?"_

"_You are aware of the abilities of my eyes, are you not?"_

"_Ah, no not really"_

"_So long as my vital organs are intact I am able to regenerate removed parts of my body at will and with relative ease. The purpose of this 'gift' is to serve as a tracking device as well as a warning system for your protection. Should Nnoitra or any other Arrancar attempt to invade your personal quarters with the intent to tamper with your person, you are to break my eye immediately. The crushing of my eye will create a blast of energy that will immediately summon me to your side so that I might appropriately deal with your assailants." He explained to her matter-of-factly._

_Her eyes softened as she understood the purpose of the gift. It was pragmatic as was expected of someone like Ulquiorra, but it was his little way of telling her that he cared about her well-being even if he wouldn't admit it verbally. "Arigatou Ulquiorra, this was very sweet of you"_

"_You needn't thank me Onna. I am simply taking practical measures to prevent you from being the target of assault while in Aizen-sama's palace."_

"_I still very much appreciate your gift." she said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder._

_He didn't move in response to her touch, but she knew it must've discomfited him to some extent. "I will return shortly to ensure that you have finished your meal" was all he said before leaving._

.

.

_"I envy because of the heart._

_I glutton because of the heart._

_I covet because of the heart._

_I am prideful because of the heart._

_I sloth because of the heart._

_I rage because of the heart._

_Because of the heart,_

_I lust for everything about you."_

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.

.

As Orihime kept her eyes closed and focused on her task the others in the room looked on in awe. The force of her reiatsu had caused Ulquiorra's eyeball to burst and the glass-like shards of the organ swirled around in the tank. Just as they look as though they were about to settle to the bottom of the containment capsule the shards suddenly began to take on an unmistakeably green glow. The shards began to swirl rapidly as the glow became stronger and from the fragments in the containment capsule, by some miracle a body had begun to form within the container.

"Holy shit she's really bringing that bastard back!" Grimmjow marvelled, a genuine grin adorning his feral features

"Shh! You'll break her concentration" Nel hushed him

"Who is she bringing back?" Tatsuki asked in a hushed voice

"Our ally and the former Cuatro Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer" Tier answered her.

Tatsuki nodded in amazement as she watched her friend conjure up a man from what was relative to nothingness. As the body began to take form, Tatsuki was able to tell that the man seemed to be tall, quite pale, and slender yet muscular. As Orihime's power's continued to work on forming the man she noticed distinctive characteristics started to become apparent on the man's body. A '4' tattoo began to appear on the left side of his chest, and a hole in the centre of his chest right below his throat._ 'A hollow hole'_ she noted. From the dust shoulder length black hair and a set of facial markings erupted into existence. Each detail of the man was reanimated with a steady precision that no doubt was taking a toll on Orihime. The blonde girl was shaking and sweating drops were sprinkled on her forehead as she worked painstakingly to complete her objective. After a few minutes had passed it was evident that his whole physical form was complete, and all that remained was for Orihime to continue restoring the man's conscience.

.

Orihime was beyond exhausted; this task had proven far more daunting than all of the others she'd taken on thus far, shy her stabilizing the realms. Even Ggio – who she had revived from nothing but DNA samples retrieved from Szayel's lab –had proven much less difficult to revive than the Cuatro espada. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why that would be. His strength perhaps? No that couldn't be it. She'd revived Kyoraku Shunsui and he was far stronger than the Cuatro Espada. What then, could cause him to be such a difficult case?

She could feel that she had reformed his physical body, but she still hadn't successfully returned his consciousness. She really should have rested more and eaten better over the last two weeks; her power levels were much weaker than normal, no doubt from the over-exertion she had put herself under. Restoring the equilibrium of all existence and reviving multiple Taichou-class Arrancar wasn't exactly good for one's energy levels. But despite her exhaustion, Orihime pressed on with all of her might, focusing in all her senses on trying to bring the Cuatro Espada back to life. She could feel that she was almost there but she just needed a little push to bring Ulquiorra all the way back. Reaching deep within herself to find the necessary strength she channelled all of the energy she could muster into her energy shield. Having used every last drop of energy that she could muster shy of tapping into her own life-force Orihime finally caved, falling to her knees in exhaustion. She was gasping deeply for air as she tried to catch her breath. She rose up to look at the containment tank and her heart fell as she saw that Ulquiorra –while whole – seemed to be completely lifeless inside the containment tank. This was nothing like when she had resurrected the others. As soon as she had finished reforming their physical bodies and imbuing them with her energy, they had immediately awoken, only to be knocked out by Nemu's tranquilizer.

"I…I couldn't do it" she said, her words barely above a whisper.

The cold, numbing sensations of failure and fatigue had begun to pool in the pit of her stomach. Failure. Complete and utter failure. His physical body was there but his consciousness, his awareness, was nowhere to be found. Of all the Espada she had attempted to revive, he was the one she most wanted to see living and breathing once more. She was almost positive in her spirit that he had wanted life more than all of them at the moment of his death. His life was taken all because of her, just as he was beginning to find the purpose that he had yearned for. She had failed him in life, and now even in death she was still just as incompetent. The overwhelming emotions of guilt, frustration, failure and exhaustion enveloped Orihime, and despite herself she couldn't stop the hot tears from streaming down her face and the hiccupped bawl that wracked her diaphragm as she wallowed in her own self-pity. Vaguely, she felt Tatsuki wrap her arms around her and ask her if she would be alright. She couldn't bring herself to respond, too disappointed in herself to utter any words. She was so caught up in her own frustration that she didn't hear the sound of a charged bala, and barely registered the sound of glass exploding. If it wasn't for Grimmjow grabbing her and Tatsuki out of the way she was sure they would've gotten a set of nasty scars from the flying debris that had resulted from the blast.

"Onna" an all too familiar voice said amidst the mass of dust, glass and rubble.

"Your wailing displeases me"

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**A/N: Until next time.**


	4. Chapter 4: Preparations

**Here's chapter 4. Thank you all reviewers and followers for your support!  
This is sort of a set up chapter. One more chapter like this and then we'll start doing more character focus chapters. I am taking suggestions for pairings so let me know from now if there's a particular ship that you're partial to. It can be crack if you'd like... I love crack pairings :)**

.

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The distinct timbre of the monotone voice, and the use of the word 'onna' was not lost on Orihime. She instantly turned to face the direction the voice was coming from, only to see the surprise of the century. In front of her stood Ulquiorra Cifer, live and in the flesh. It was a dream come true to see the man she'd worked so arduously to save look back at her with the same impassive gaze she'd missed for so long. Fresh tears sprung to her eyes as she got up and leapt into a run towards Ulquiorra with excitement.

"Ulquiorra-kun!" she wailed as she tackled the emerald eyed Espada into a tight hug. "It worked!" she bawled as she gripped him with all of her strength. This was better than pickles dipped in chocolate. Better than pickles with red bean paste even!

Ulquiorra didn't respond to the orange haired woman's hug or her cries. Instead he continued to remain completely silent as he peered down at her with mild confusion. Why was the onna still wailing? Perhaps his presence was displeasing. Or perhaps the blue haired brute he'd once called a colleague was responsible for some of her unbecoming display of emotions.

"Who is responsible for this woman's bawling? Remedy it at once" He demanded. He felt a frown coming on as he saw Grimmjow topple over with laughter in response to his demands.

"Three years and you're still as dense as ever" Grimmjow barked uncontrollabl. "She's crying 'cause of you bat-brain"

Ulquiorra's lips had set into a thin line as he heard Grimmjow mocking him. So he had been right with his initial assumptions; the human girl had been displeased by his presence. But why then would she be embracing with such strength? Perhaps her futile attempts at restricting him were her way of trying to protect the currently not-present Kurosaki Ichigo. Not wanting to let Grimmjow get away with his insults, he raised a hand in Grimmjow's direction, finger poised and ready to fire a cero.

"You would be wise not to insult my intelligence, rodent. I could easily destroy you without much effort. I was not named 4th for fashion"

Grimmjow's aura quickly changed from jovial to deadly. "Who the fuck are you callin' a rodent, bat boy?! You were the 4th 3 years ago when the Espada were still relevant. Times have changed asshole" Grimmjow snarled, flaring his reiatsu slightly as he put his hand on his sword "Maybe you need someone to teach you that"

Orihime had let go of Ulquiorra by this time and was staring at the two men with concern. Not even 5 minutes had passed since Ulquiorra's return and both party's looked ready to gut one another. She was about to protest their argument when Kurotsuchi butted in, the irritation evident in his tone.

"Cease your indignant bickering! My lab is not the place for a rabid housecat and naked roadkill to be rough housing!" he spat looking pointedly at Ulquiorra's undressed form. Orihime, realizing that she had been hugging a very naked Ulquiorra squealed self-consciously and jumped back from him, hands covering her very red face.

"Gomen!" she cried as she did her best to look away. Ulquiorra only spared her a fleeting glance before he turned his attentions to the now ranting 12th Division Captain.

"You violent beasts are going to be the end of my division!. This is the third time one of your kind has obliterated my equipment. Do you have any idea how troublesome it is to create equipment of this caliber?" Mayuri continued to rant as he observed the absolute mess Ulquiorra's bala had created. The containment capsule as well as the equipment it was mounted on was blasted to smithereens. Even the control panel he was working on seemed to have suffered considerable damage. With careless people like this around, he would need to start using more durable material in his designs. The Soutaichou would not be pleased with the budget next month.

"Nemu!" He yelled loudly, summoning his lieutenant to his side. She appeared after only a moment, carrying a large syringe in her hand as she did so.

"Yes Taichou?" she asked monotonously.

"Bring our new guest to the infirmary so he can gather with the rest. When you're finished insuring his health, bring him and the others to the main room. And do dress him will you? His unclothed form is unsightly" he said wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Hai, Taichou" was all she said before she made her way over to Ulquiorra. Despite his best attempt to intimidate her into staying away from him Nemu moved forward, unphased by his intimidating glower. "Please follow me Cifer-san" she said politely. When he didn't move she grabbed him by the wrist and attempted to lead him to the infirmary. When he refused to budge, she looked back at him impassively. "Please do not resist Cifer-san. I do not wish to use force"

"I will not be moved until you explain what it is you intend to have done to me" Ulquiorra responded tersely.

Ignoring his demand for an answer, Nemu simply repeated her previous request. "Please do not resist Cifer-san. I do not wish to use force" she parroted, tightening her grip on his wrist.

Ulquiorra took her tightened grip as a threat, and immediately tried to pry his hand loose. To his surprise he found that he was unable to do so. As much as he tugged and pulled, Nemu's grip remained steady. It was almost as if he wasn't moving at all.

"Permission to use force, Kurotsuchi-Taichou?" she asked monotonously as she looked in the direction of her captain. To Ulquiorra's shock and mortification Nemu did not even appear to be struggling to maintain her grip even though he was now using considerable strength to pry his wrist loose.

"Granted." Mayuri said impassively as he continued to survey the damage done to his equipment. Before Ulquiorra even had the chance to react to Mayuri's words he felt a strong knee to the gut followed by a piercing sensation at the side of his neck. He was barely able to turn his gaze down to see the end of the syringe that was once in Nemu's hand embedded in his neck. How had it managed to pierce his Hierro? 'Have I become… weak?' was the last thing he thought before his world faded to black. In one swift movement Nemu hoisted the much taller Arrancar over her shoulder before she headed towards the adjacent room.

Orihime looked on at the brief interaction between Nemu and Ulquiorra with mild alarm. Nemu was extremely swift. So much so that it frightened her. She didn't even register her movements and from what she could see neither did Ulquiorra. Tier and Nel looked on in what seemed to be mild admiration for the female Shinigami; powerful women always had their respect. Grimmjow on the other hand was laughing fitfully as he watched Ulquiorra get dragged off.

"You know, for a colleague you don't seem to be too fond of that pale guy" Tatsuki said observantly to Grimmjow as she watched him double over with laughter.

When his laughter subsided he gave her a disproving look. "Tch, just because we worked together doesn't mean we were best friends" he said as he straightened up. "The guy's got a rod so far up his ass he can't even sneeze without sounding like a robot. I get my kicks out of seeing guys like that get their asses handed to 'em. Especially by a woman" he said again before he fell into another fit of laughter.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Both Tatsuki and Nel said at the same time in regards to his woman comment. Before Grimmjow had a chance to reply however, Urahara had spoken up.

"Ah, sorry to interrupt but we really don't have time for another argument. Nemu-san should be finished with the others very soon so we should make our way to the main room. Please follow me and Kurotsuchi-Taichou very closely; it's very easy to get lost in this part of the division" He said as he began to head for the exit.

.

.

.

A series of twists and turns later, the group had arrived in front of a large set of white doors. Kurotsuchi pressed a thumb to the panel on the wall next to the doors, allowing them to open. The group ushered into the bland white room, waiting for either of their guides to speak.

"So… why did you make Orihime bring that weird guy back?" Tatsuki asked, breaking the silence in the room.

"Patience Arisawa-san, as soon as Nemu-san returns to us we will answer all of your questions" Urahara replied, shifting his hat as he did so. Tatsuki let out an annoyed huff but didn't argue with the sandy-haired man. Several minutes past as the uncomfortable silence resumed while the occupants of the room waited for Nemu's arrival.

The silence was so prolonged and intense that everyone shy of Mayuri and Urahara visibly started when the wall in the far corner of the room began to move. It turned out that the wall was actually the door to a hidden passageway. From that passageway emerged a blank-faced nemu who was holding a thin chain in her hand. The chain was leading a procession of what the majority of the room's occupants recognized as several Arrancar. Coyote Starrk, Ggio Vega, Tesra Lindocruz and Ulquiorra Cifer slowly made their way into the room in a single file as Nemu led them by their cuffed hands. Instead of their usual attire, they were dressed in standard white prisoner's Yutaka. With the exception of Ulquiorra who still looked subdued, the other Arrancar looked on in shock when they saw their former allies in the company of the Shinigami men and human women. Tesra audibly gasped as his eyes landed on Nel. He seemed visibly discomfited when she offered him a small smile as opposed to the reproachful glare he had come to associate her with. His instincts told him to demand information on Nnoitra's whereabouts, but after seeing the way the woman leading them had man-handled a protestant Ulquiorra back in the room he decided to follow the lead of Starrk and Ggio he decided to remain silent until he found an opportune time to speak. He was unaware of how long he'd been out of it, but from the look of things the Shinigami had clearly won the war. Why Harribel and Grimmjow were stand amongst the traitor and their enemies was a mystery to him. Why were they not taken as prisoners of war as well?

"Nemu, you're late" said Mayuri reproachfully.

"My apologies Kurotsuchi-Taichou. Patient number 4 metabolized my tranquilizer faster than expected. I was forced to re-inoculate until he became manageable. He was also quite resistant to my attempts to check his vitals." She said, bowing as she spoke.

"Did you find anything amiss with any of the patients?" Urahara queried.

"I will discuss the details more once the proper introductions are made Urahara-sama" she replied

Orihime looked on with mild displeasure; chaining up soon-to-be allies did not seem like a good diplomatic move to make. "Can't we unchain them?" she asked hesitantly.

"Until the negotiations have been completed they will remain chained. I'm not foolhardy enough to allow them free reign in my division" Mayuri retorted tersely. Orihime shrunk at the slight edge to his tone, but didn't reply.

Urahara, deciding to take over the introductions cleared his throat before addressing the chained Arrancar.

"Good afternoon gentlemen as you might know I am Urahara Kisuke, and the man with the face paint is my colleague Kurotsuchi Mayuri. I apologize for the inconvenience, but it's a matter of security, really" he said motioning to their chained hands. "I imagine that you must want to know why you are being detained here"

"You went through the trouble of reviving and sustaining us. It's fair to assume that you have some purpose that you would like for us to fulfill" said Starrk observantly. Urahara nodded in response.

"Very astute of you Starrk-san. Each of you standing before me has been dead for several years. Since time is against us I will try and give you an abbreviated version of the past few years' events" he said before taking a breath.

"As you can probably tell, Aizen was defeated during the Winter War. As Harribel-san can attest to, Aizen proved to be disloyal not only to the Seireitei but also to his own creations; you. After Aizen was defeated the realms enjoyed years of relative peace until several weeks ago. The son of the Soul King and ruler of the Quincy returned to the Seireitei after a thousand year absence in order to dethrone his father. The aftermath of the battle against the Quincy King resulted in damage that nearly tore the fabric of existence apart. With the help of Orihime-chan over here we were able to restore stability to the realms. In the midst of balancing the realms we discovered the existence of more realms than previously believed to exist, which created a huge chasm of imbalance. To be frank, the way the Seireitei has chosen to maintain balance over the realms has been flawed for over a thousand years. For too long we believed that Shinigami were the only answer to maintaining universal balance. The work done by me and my colleague Kurotsuchi Mayuri has led us to discover where we have been going wrong."

"But what does that have to do with us? Why bring us back?" It was Ggio now that decided to speak.

"We revived you because we realized that special hollows such as your self are necessary in this world. Souls, the 'Living', and Hollows are the primary stages of the life cycle. When humans die or become separated from their physical form, they become Souls. Souls whose chains of fate are severed eventually become hollows. Hollows and souls who are 'killed' revert and eventually are 'reborn' as humans again. This process is the never ending cycle of life, or so we believed. It turns out that this process is much more complicated, and souls do not always reincarnate in this fashion. Various other realms exist where the energy that composes of all existence 'reincarnates' itself. When only Shinigami's assist in purifying souls or maintaining 'balance', what happens is a surplus of this energy becomes transferred to certain realms, leaving the others out of whack. This is because Shinigami energy only resonates with Soul society and a certain few realms. This is why not every soul that is purified ends up in Soul Society. Hollow energy resonates with certain realms as well; realms that as of now are experiencing a deficit because not enough Hollows are doing their job. The same goes for Human-Quincy energy. If Shinigami were to continue on the path they are on now, being the sole maintainers of 'balance' in the realms, the universe will eventually collapse, killing everything. This is where you come in."

"You want us to become Hollow 'Soul Reapers' for your cause" Starrk finished for him

"Something like that, yes." Urahara replied.

"Of what benefit would such an arrangement be to us?" Asked a very skeptical Ggio

"Well, not having to witness the end of existence is a nice benefit I'd like to think" Urahara replied good-naturedly.

Ggio scoffed at this. "We're dead men living on borrowed time. I'm not sure how it would make much of a difference"

"Why not create your own army of Arrancar or use that orange-haired boy. His reiatsu is laced with hollow energy" Tesra added.

"Oh we planned to, but there's no way we can afford to do something like that for right now. Doing this is much more efficient."

"What makes you believe that we're trustworthy enough to be tasked with maintaining balance across the worlds? We are your sworn enemies." Said Starrk as he eyed Urahara intently. There was a noticeable bitterness in his eyes as he spoke.

"I disagree Starrk-san. During the Winter War we were neither allies nor enemies; we were simply soldiers following the orders of our leaders. The events of the Seireitei's war with the Quincy have shown me and my colleagues that our interests were not that much different than the interests of the Arrancar. Although pride and lack of knowledge caused us to find ourselves on opposing sides. We all have a desire to survive, and through that desire I believe if we work together we can achieve peace and harmony. None of us are perfect, but if we all do our part we can strive towards a perfect world." Said Urahara earnestly. He had taken his hat off during his speech and was looking the very image of solemnity.

"What do you think of all this Ulquiorra?" Starrk asked, addressing the man who hadn't spoken once since the discussion started.

Ulquiorra looked towards Starrk and then towards Kisuke, staring long and hard before he spoke.

"If the Shinigami are telling the truth, then I see no harm in coming into treaty with them. We are in a position of neither benefit nor loss"

Starrk nodded in acknowledgement. "I cannot speak for the rest of them, but I agree with Ulquiorra. I would be willing to negotiate with you Shinigami." He never had a particular fondness for the Shinigami, and after the events of the Winter War he did not want much to do with them, but he knew that Lillinette would not want him to be alone or to hold a grudge. It was better to survive… atleast for the time being.

"Well what say you, Vega-san, Lindocruz-san?" said Urahara expectantly. The two Arrancar looked at each other, trying to gauge the other's thoughts on the matter. After a moment they both nodded their heads, albeit reluctantly.

"Wonderful! Now that that's out of the way we can get into the meat of things" Urahara said

"Before we can unchain you we just have to do one thing. Nemu have you placed spiritual limiter seals on all of the Arrancar?"

"Not as of yet" she replied.

"Please place Spiritual limiter seals on all of them, and then activate them simultaneously"

"Why do we need seals, Kisuke-kun?" asked Nel curiously.

"Again, it's a matter of security Nel-chan. All high-ranking Shinigami have limiters. If we're going to have you all formally allied with the Seireitei then you'll need to have limiters." he explained as Nemu went about applying the seals on each of the Arranars' bodies. When it was Nel's turn she felt her reiatsu significantly decrease, and to her horror she found that her mask was beginning to disappear.

Noticing the distress on her face as well as the expressions of the other Arrancar, Urahara quickly explained what was happening to them. "Your masks disappearing are a side-effect of the seal. Similarly to the Visored, your masks host a significant amount of your power. Being that your power levels have now been reduced to a fifth that of its normal level, your masks have begun to dissipate. Not to worry though, as soon as you activate your powers your masks should reappear."

"I see" Nel replied as she felt her now unmasked head. "It feels so strange"

"You'll get used to it in time" Kisuke assured.

With the seals in place Nemu quickly went about unchaining the Arrancar. Once she was done she went over to Urahara and whispered in his ears. His eyes widened in recollection as she relayed her message. "Oh right, yes, thank you Nemu-san. I'll do it before I forget. Arisawa-san" he began, "You wanted to know what you have to do with all of this?"

Tatsuki nodded as she gave the man her undivided attention. "As you know, we made the decision to have Ichigo permanently relocate to the Soul Society to prevent him from exposing anyone to his powers and causing unprecedented changes in the human world. What we didn't take into account is the fact that he may have already made some permanent changes, especially to those who have been in close proximity to him for prolonged periods of time."

"Okay…" she said skeptically, unsure of where he was going.

"And well, I'm not sure how to put this to you but –"

"You're all dying, Inoue excluded." Mayuri butt in, cutting off Urahara's speech.

"What?!" both Orihime and Tatsuki exclaimed. The arrancar in the room –while silent- looked on with expressions ranging from mild intrigue to outright surprise.

Mayuri rolled his eyes at the panicked expressions of the human women; they were so melodramatic.

"To be precise, your prolonged exposure to high levels of reiatsu has made you take on the properties of a soul. If you continue to live in the human world, you will eventually become pluses. At some point we'll need to purify you all or run the risk of you turning into high-powered hollows" He elaborated, ignoring the look that Urahara was giving him.

"Is there any way that we can stop this process? Can't Orihimes powers reverse it?" Tatsuki asked frantically. Suddenly her mouth felt dry, and the deafening sound of her own pulse made it difficult to focus. How could she be dying?

"In theory I am more than sure that she could, but her powers are needed for a much more important purpose. Your lives aren't worth wasting energy on when the universe is at stake" Mayuri quipped pithily.

Tatsuki clenched her fists in anger at the 12th division Captains flippant response. Before she could go off on the mean-spirited man, a hand grabbed her arm stopping her from lurching at him. She looked to see Grimmjow's hand restraining her as he spoke.

"You have an alternative right? You can't drag her ass here just to tell her that her days are numbered" he said brazenly. Tatsuki was surprised at the combative nature of his tone. He barely even knew her; why was he being so… protective?

"Actually we do" said Urahara putting his hands up in a supplicating gesture. "If she and the others were to agree, we would accelerate the process and allow them to become full-fledged Shinigami. Of course, that would mean leaving behind their lives in the human world."

"Become a Shinigami..?" Tatsuki said under her breath. The thought was daunting. She'd always been against the shinigami because they were always getting her friends into trouble. Could she really become one of them?

She didn't get the chance to give a proper reply to Urahara's alternative because the blue haired Arrancar beside her took it upon himself to answer for her.

"Well then that settles it. You're gonna be a Shinigami, squirrel mane." He said with a devilish grin.

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**Does anyone like the prospect of a GrimmSuki romance? I'm strongly considering it lol. Chapter 624 gave me Grimmjow fever all over again. *swoon* Anyway, that's all for now folks. I'll see you on the next update. :)**


	5. Chapter 5: Negotiations

**A/N: long time no see loves! To make up for my absence I've decided to make this a double update. This is the last chapter that will be so technical. Chapters from here on out will mostly be focused on how everyone is adjusting to life and some pairing-centric chapters. I am still taking suggestions as I haven't figured out who I want to pair everyone with so be sure to leave your preference in the reviews and I will do my best to see if I can fit it into the grander scheme of my story. Hope you enjoy :)!**

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Approximately two weeks had passed since Inoue had successfully revived Ulquiorra. Looking retrospectively, Mayuri was quite satisfied with the work he had orchestrated with his co-conspirator Kisuke. As soon as they had been able to, Kisuke and Mayuri began looking over the vitality analysis Nemu had produced for them and initiated a rehabilitation plan immediately thereafter. While Inoue's powers were certainly incredible, they still had their limitations, especially when one took into account the fact that she was still some time away from fully mastering them. As a result of her still imperfect control, the revived Arrancar's had suffered some changes to their abilities.

Starrk's change had been the most devastating for the arrancar to learn of. When Orihime had restored his soul she restored him as a single being; as such the portion of his soul that had been Lilinette was reabsorbed by his more dominant half. They were yet to see any differences in his resurreccion, but Mayuri was certain that there would be greater changes in the long term that would affect Coyote's abilities as his soul adjusted to being whole once again. Both Ggio and Tesra had also suffered significant changes to their resurreccions, although theirs were more immediately noticeable.

Ggio's sealed Katana was no longer squared off instead featuring a greater length and a dangerously sharp tip. His resurrection seemed to follow suit, becoming much longer and equally as sharp in their edge. His Special ability had been the most drastic change however. _Tigre El Sable_ no longer gave him a gargantuan multi-fanged appearance. Instead; his special ability only slightly changed the shape of his wrist blades so that they were wider and slightly curved, with red streaks going along the sharp edges of the blades.

Tesra Lindocruz' resurreccion had gone a similar route. His gargantuan form was no longer, instead his command only served to change the shape and composition of his blade. When he released his resurreccion Verruga's size dramatically increased, and the chakram about its epicenter now sported an ivory warthog crest. His garments had also changed to feature a large black fur pelt cloak that covered his person and a warthog skull helmet with elongated tusks about his head. Both changes had marginally increased the level of their powers but Mayuri maintained that it was too early to be certain what the overall changes would mean for the Arrancar. It seemed that of the revived Arrancar only Ulquiorra's powers remained as they were before his demise. Kisuke surmised that it was due to the fact that Ulquiorra wasn't truly dead at all, but rather in a "dormant" state.

Through controlled sessions of rehabilitation and training they were able to successfully ascertain the overall nature of each of the Arrancar's powers, much to the satisfaction of the mad scientist duo. Conversation back and forth with their allies in the time before the first Captain's meeting had assured them that the others had also been successfully vetted and rehabilitated. The chips were slowly beginning to fall into place; all that was left to do is meet with the other taichou's and reveal their plan. Mayuri grinned to himself devilishly as he headed towards his personal chambers to prepare for the upcoming meeting. If everything went according to plan (and he was certain it would), he would finally be getting the recognition he deserved for his brilliant theories being proven correct. He didn't even mind that he would have to share the praise with Kisuke.

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"Why do we have to be here again?" Tatsuki drawled in annoyance as she took in her surroundings. The Karakura Town crew, The Arrancar and a few folks Orihime identified as 'Fullbringers' sat idly in an enclosed room as they waited to receive word from Mayuri and Kisuke about the outcome of the meeting.

"Don't you get bored of asking this question? You human-to-shinigami creeps need to stay here with us and these err… Hollow-whatsits until we hear the verdict from your Soul Society Captains. If that grumpy old bastard and the rest of those tight asses aren't cool with Kisuke's plan then you're all as good as fucked" A girl Tatsuki had come to identify as Riruka said brashly.

Tatsuki never bothered to respond to Riruka, choosing to instead fold her arms crossly and adjust herself in the rather plush sofa. Atleast she would be very comfortable for the time being. Barring the fact they'd been isolated from the rest of the world for the better half of two weeks, their accommodations had been rather lavish. Riruka had them trapped in the miniature version of an estate home, complete with little robotic butlers that responded to simple requests.

Apparently, Kisuke had the magenta haired fullbringer house them in a secure location until he was certain that the Captain-Commander or Central 46 wouldn't make some absurd demand like ordering their execution due to their 'high risk' status. Tatsuki personally doubted that would happen as she knew her recalcitrant orange-haired friend would never allow anything to happen to his friends and family. He'd lay waste to all of the realms before he'd let his best friends and his siblings be executed. If anything, she supposed the precaution was more for their Arrancar allies than the fullbringers or humans. Or, former humans she should say. In the fortnight since Mayuri dropped the bomb on the young human woman, she and her friends had been recruited and swiftly stripped of their humanity through one of Urahara's ridiculous processes. Instead of ripping their souls from their bodies he'd simply accelerated the "spiritification" process they were undergoing independently, effectively turning them into souls. As it were, they would need gigai if they ever wanted to re-enter the human world and be seen by those without spiritual powers. It had been difficult to explain to her mother what her current situation was. Taking Kisuke's advice Tatsuki told her mother that she was going to study abroad with friends, but promised that she would visit on holidays or whenever she was given time off. Not being sure of the outcome of her fate just yet, it was decidedly unwise to inform her mother that she would in essence be living the rest of her days in the afterlife.

"Tatsuki-chan you think they have any soccer fields in Soul Society? If I don't get any practice in I'll lose my edge" said Karin as she looked up from her Nintendo DS.

"Che, you won't need soccer fields where you're going runt" grouched Grimmjow as he lay on the floor of the living area.

Both Karin and Tatsuki rolled their eyes at his interjection. "I don't remember her asking you Blue's Clue's"

"Would you knock it off with the name, Squirrel-mane?"

"Maybe when you stop calling me Squirrel-mane I'll consider it"

"At least you know what a squirrel is. The fuck is a Blue's Clue's!?"

"Figure it out, Blue."

"Stop goading each other. Your bantering is breaking my concentration" snapped a rather irritated Yukio to the squabbling pair. Rather than respond, they both let out mildly irritated huffs, but remained relatively silent as they waited patiently for word from Urahara and Kurotsuchi that would determine their futures,

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The day for the big reveal had finally dawned on Kisuke and Mayuri. The two weeks grace period for recovery had allowed all of the Captains adequate time to heal and prepare for their first official day of work, though their work would be exceptionally minimal until the Gotei was back on its feet again. Many of the Captains looked a bit worse for wear, but it was safe to say that they were all stable enough to be coherent members of this meeting. Even Captain Ukitake (one of the more grievously wounded captains) seemed to be doing quite well, all things considered. Urahara shifted his gaze to his eerily silent childhood best friend who was currently staring at nothing in particular. Her golden hues remained fixed and her face did not give away any hint that she might be aware of his attention. To the untrained eye it might appear as though she was totally oblivious; but Kisuke was nothing if not well versed in the ways of Shihoin Yoruichi. He knew her well enough to know that she was aware of his gaze and was mostly likely purposefully avoiding eye-contact with him. Since the end of the war they hadn't spoken even once; he'd been there when Orihime had saved her from death itself, but he hadn't visited her since she regained consciousness. He just couldn't bring himself to face her, not after all that had happened. He knew it probably hurt and upset her that he had been absent, but he convinced himself that it couldn't be helped. Hopefully with time she would believe that as well. Kisuke was taken away from his musings as the voice of the newly re-appointed Soutaichou filled the meeting hall. Urahara allowed his attentions to flicker to the weathered old man as he greeted the other members of the room before diving straight into business.

"I do not wish to waste time with pleasantries" Yamamoto began brusquely. "We all have our life and our health again of which we are grateful for. However, our business is not one of gratification; it is one of guardianship for all of the realms. As such we will proceed through this meeting as per usual. At a later date we can arrange for proper thanks to be given to whom we owe it to. For the 1st division, there was a minor amount of irrecoverable casualties, numbering 3 in total. The 1st division headquarters are nearly completely reconstructed. Another fortnight of repairs should have the 1st at full functioning capacity. Feng-Taichou?" The old man looked expectantly at Soifon as he waited for her to give her report.

Understanding the cue Soifon nodded quickly before clearing her throat to speak. "The 2nd division also suffered relatively minor casualties. The onmitsukido on the other hand suffered a significant amount of irrecoverable casualties. The process of new recruitment has already begun but it will take some time before there are enough properly vetted, qualified individuals to take on the post of special-forces militia. Despite this set-back my division does not expect to see any significant dips in performance" she replied simply.

The rest of the captains all gave their assessments of how they were running, each division relaying varying amounts of damage and repairs being done. When they were finally finished the Soutaichou took his turn to speak once again.

"Now that the preliminaries have been addressed, I believe it is prudent for us to discuss the discoveries made by Kurotsuchi-Taichou and Urahara Kisuke. As we are all very much aware, with the use of Inoue Orihime's unique skillset they were able to revive those of us who had fallen during the catastrophic events of the war. In the reports that I had briefed it was written that you both made a rather interesting discovery. If you could share that with us gentleman"

Urahara spoke as he stepped forward with Mayuri. "Well it all began when I was heading back to the remnants of the 12th's underground lab, which let me tell you was no easy task. There was so much rubble and –"

"The concise version, Urahara" The Soutaichou cut in.

"Ah, yes sorry" he said sheepishly. "Basically Mayuri and I discovered that the cycle of life is far more complex than originally described in most of the texts we are all familiar with. Although, I'm sure you already knew that Soutaichou-sama. The aftermath of the damage Yhwach inflicted on the realms caused a fissure to form in the cycle of reincarnation, which created a purgatory realm. This realm held the backlog of Reiryoku rich souls that perished during the battle. We hypothesize that the reason for the purgatory realms creation was because the reincarnation cycle was unable to carry out its duties as all of existence itself was being unhinged due to Yhwach's interference with the already tentative balance of the realms. As a way of coping, the universe created this realm to hold off collapsing upon itself entirely. Once we located the realm we were able to revive those of you who had fallen by using Inoue-san's powers with an amplifier of our creation"

"In what respect was the balance of the realms 'tentative' Urahara? For millennia our kind has maintained the balance of the realms with konso's and the purification of hollows. Surely with within the last few centuries since the eradication of the Quincy the balance must have improved." Asked Soifon.

"The situation was tentative because we've been failing to keep the realms stable for millennia. Contrary to what the academy teaches us, the Shinigami are not the sole guardians of the realms, or at least they were never meant to be. Tell me, have any of you ever wondered why there are ruins of once-great structures in Hueco Mundo if it was populated by mindless destructive beasts? Or why there are citadels in hell? Or even, how the ancestors of our esteemed colleague Komamura-taichou might have managed to traverse from the beasts realm to this one in ancient times?" Mayuri began.

"In ancient times before the days of the Gotei balance was kept by a number of different species without regulation. Despite the disorganized nature of the world all that time ago, all of the realms managed to stay relatively stable. Ancient civilizations flourished the realms over, and the universe was able to run smoothly and freely. An event of great destructive proportions caused this relatively smooth balance to dissolve, thus beginning the end the era of true balance between the realms. It was around this time that the Shinigami began to take their role as "Guardians" of the realm as a serious and singularly held task. This slowly led to the degradation of balance in the universe which was only exacerbated by the recent Quincy invasion"

"Quincy power's remove destroy souls, thus removing them from the cycle of reincarnation. Their existence is a threat to life itself" Interjected Byakuya.

"On the contrary, they do not. Because we cannot detect souls that the Quincy purifies being reincarnated in the Soul Society we assume that this must mean they are being destroyed, when in actuality these souls are just being reincarnated in other realms. These are not realms we currently associate with the cycle of reincarnation. When a Quincy purifies a soul, that soul's essence will be reincarnated in either the Beast Realm or at least 2 other realms whose purpose we are yet to fully understand. The reason for this is because Quincy powers resonate with the energy from those realms and as such can only send souls to those realms. That is why souls that they kill with their powers never end up in Hueco Mundo, Soul Society or the human realm." Mayuri explained

"What are you saying?" The Soutaichou asked solemnly. It was clear from his facial expression that he was not happy with Mayuri and Kisuke. If he was angry now he'd be livid enough to set Ryuujin Jakka on them once they dropped the real bomb on him.

"That Shinigami have been arrogant fools for far too long. Their pomp and stupidity has almost been the undoing of us all! Not one singular catastrophe over the past 2000 years would have ever occurred if it were not the Shinigami's failure to realize the importance of other beings besides themselves" Mayuri quipped tartly.

"You mind your tongue when you speak of our kind." The Soutaichou growled.

"I will not spare your overinflated pride with niceties Genryuusai. You yourself have lived long enough to know that I am speaking nothing but the bitter truth. Our regime was borne of arrogance and stupidity. The evidence speaks for itself. Even without Yhwach's invasion it was only a matter of time before the universe would have collapsed on itself. Shingami cannot maintain balance in the realms by themselves. The foolish decision to cull the Quincy only furthered the imbalance that exists. You cannot deny the facts any longer than the universe can support your lies"

The rest of the Shinigami in the room were utterly shocked by Mayuri's insolence; but what was more shocking was the fact that the Yamamoto Genryuusai was the very look of silence and resignation. Mayuri had clearly struck a chord that was too robust for the Taichou to steamroll over with his anger

"Is what he's saying true Yama-ji?" asked a stunned but inquisitive Shunsui.

"In some ways, yes." Yamamoto began somberly, his ire barely bridled.

"You mean in all ways" Mayuri grumbled lowly but Yamamoto ignored him.

"The old days were a dark time for us; the realms were connected, but always in constant war with one another. The carnage was blinding and overwhelming; a day wouldn't go by that was not wracked with all manner of atrocity happening somewhere in our midst. When it finally became too unbearable we had no choice but to devise a way to protect ourselves. We did many questionable things to ensure our species' dominance, but only in order to keep the peace! The others did not value their or our livelihood! I admit the forbearers' plans lacked thoroughness and foresight, but they were efficient for a long time."

"And yet, too inefficient to save us from destruction. Well enough should have been left alone" Mayuri jabbed.

"Arguing with one another will not change the mistakes made in the past. All we can do now is work towards fixing the mistakes that have been made in the hopes of a brighter future. Knowing the both of you, is it safe to say that you have a solution worked out already" It was Ukitake who spoke this time, his frailty almost undetected in his voice. It would take some time before he was fully healed, but he still managed to stand strong alongside his colleagues.

"We do actually. The specifications are written here in this letter" Said Kisuke said as he took a small envelope out of his sleeve and handed it to the Soutaichou. He gave him a moment to read the document aloud.

"A hybridized gotei? Co-captaincies?" The Soutaichou asked perplexedly as he read through the document.

Urahara nodded in response, "Indeed. The model we have worked out would work to ensure balance is maintained thoroughly. If our ranks are composed of those with Shinigami powers and those with Hollow or Quincy powers then balance could be ensured indefinitely.

Our remodel would only feature the co-captaincy aspect in squads 2 through 13 however. The zero and 1st squads will remain as they are, with one leader."

"Where would we be able to find enough individuals with such power? There aren't nearly enough Arrancar and Quincy still living and I wouldn't deign to trust regular hollows with this task." Asked Byakuya

"We already have that sorted out. All we require is the Gotei's permission to proceed with our plans"

"This would go against the rules ascribed by the former soul king and the Central 46" Soifon pointed out.

"And neither is alive to enforce any of these laws. Now is the most opportune time to make these crucial changes" Mayuri countered evenly. "There really isn't any better alternative. If there was, I would have known about it"

"He does have a point there Yama-ji" Shunsui acknowledged. Murmuring erupted amongst the captains as they discussed whether or not they would be open to the idea of such drastic changes.

"So wait. You mean ta' tell me that we gotta work hand in hand with our natural enemies? You've got balls bringin' this bullshit proposal to us" Shinji spat sardonically

"You'd be lucky if a proposal like that didn't start a revolt among the Shinigami. Many of us have lost friends, family, and close comrades to Hollows and Quincy. Asking Shinigami to join arms with them will not go over well" added Toshiro in a slightly less caustic tone.

"What you imply leaves us with quite a conundrum on our hands Kurotsuchi-Taichou, Urahara. If the Gotei is to continue its duties as is, it would mean the end of the world. But the same result is imminent if we were to discontinue those duties as I am sure you are well aware. Your solution offers us a way out of that fate, but there is no guarantee the solution you have outlined on this paper will be workable in the long term" Said Yamamoto in a grievous tone. It was obvious that the idea did not appeal to him one bit.

"Our solution is a drastic measure which will come with its own set of difficulties, but amendments can and will be made to solve these problems as they present themselves. The format we have suggested is merely to test the viability of synergy between groups. It is certainly open to change with time." Mayuri replied.

"How do we broach bringing this up to our subordinates? I myself am having a hard time imagining sharing duties with someone who was once my sworn adversary. I can only imagine how they might feel about risking their lives alongside former enemies." Said Ukitake with some concern.

"We intend to present the situation to them truthfully. As much as they might dislike the idea, I'm sure they would prefer working with former enemies over having their very existence ripped apart." Urahara explained.

"How much of a grace period would we have to acclimatize our subordinates to the idea?" asked Byakuya.

Mayuri scratched his chin thoughtfully before he spoke. "Estimates from the tests have concluded that even with our efforts to stabilize the realms we can only guarantee that a fortnights worth of average deaths can be sustained. My suggestion would be to allow a weeklong grace period after the official announcement, followed by two days' orientation for the new potential members of the Gotei. This would allow for a relatively smooth transition for all parties involved."

"That sound's reasonable to me" Ukitake said, and several of the captains nodded in agreement.

"So what do you say Soutaichou-sama?" Urahara asked the older man when the other Captains' talk died down.

The Soutaichou remained silent, mentally battling with his practical side and his personal feelings. After a moment he finally spoke,

"It is done. At the adjourning of this meeting I order all acting Captains to inform their subordinates of the coming changes. Approximately one week will be given to the Gotei in order to prepare for the arrival and assimilation of its new members. Since you have so painstakingly orchestrated this plan, I order Urahara Kisuke and Kurotsuchi to oversee the transition. You both will also aid myself and the other captains in choosing which individuals would be best suited for these 'co-captaincy' positions that you have outlined in your plan over the coming days. Meeting adjourned"

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The presence of a Senkaimon in the area was immediately noticed by all of the inhabitants of Riruka's estate world. The senkaimon was a good sign, they were told. If all things went to hell, an artificial garganta would've been Mayuri and Kisuke's method of transportation. They had an escape route and alternate method of survival planned out from the get-go in the event that things had gone awry and the Soutaichou had ordered their execution. The group quickly assembled themselves in front of the senkaimon as it materialized, eager to hear what the verdict was from the two mad scientists' meeting with the gotei. To their surprise, only Kisuke exited the senkaimon.

"I come bearing good news!" He said as the gates closed behind him.

"Oh yeah, Then where's the freak with the makeup? You sure they didn't just send you here to round us up?" Grimmjow barked gruffly.

"Ignore the overgrown pussy Urahara-san. We buried him in sand at the beach today so he's a bit irritable" Tatsuki interjected, earning giggles from some of the group.

Urahara simply smiled at their banter before he spoke. "Well, Mayuri-san isn't here with me because he's back in the seireitei working out the logistics of the plan we've set in motion with the other captains. Meanwhile, I'm just stopping by here to let you all know how things went before I tell the others. The good news is that negotiations were successful, and we are currently in the works of reformatting the Gotei in order to accommodate the changes Mayuri and I have proposed. The Soutaichou has ordered that all intended parties prepare themselves for absorption into the gotei ranks as soon as possible. You all have 1 week to make peace with whatever you have in the living world, because after that time you'll be permanently moved to the soul society and made formal members of the Gotei."

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	6. Chapter 6: Prey

**A/N: This is part 2 of a double post. If you haven't read chapter 5, please do so before reading chapter 6. ;)**

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**Prey**

The massive overhaul of the gotei 13 could best be described as a cluster-fuck of confusion. Finding a way to categorize everyone and everything proved to be far more difficult than initially thought. Even for a group of geniuses the task still proved daunting. Ultimately the format of the Gotei would need to change entirely, but as a trial run, the co-Captaincy program was their best bet in order measure the effectiveness of a blended spiritual militia. Upon Yoruichi's permanent relocation to the Seireitei, her position in her clan was restored, as was her hereditary role as commander of the onmitsukido. Though she was initially against the idea, Soifon was insistent that she take on her old mantle. As part of the agreement laid out by Urahara and Mayuri she was appointed as a "co-captain" of the 2nd Division, meant to oversee the non-traditional recruits for the division. Her expertise on Hollow, Vizard, and Quincy powers in combination with her history in the division made her an obvious choice. Urahara was also naturally appointed as a co-captain in the 12th, and took on a similar position to Yoruichi's.

Assigning co-captains to each division was certainly far from an easy task to accomplish. While certain folks like Yoruichi and Urahara found themselves as obvious choices for their positions in the 2nd and 12th squads respectively, there was a great deal of debate in regards to where the others should be placed. It was almost immediately agreed upon that Grimmjow should under no circumstances be made a co-captain or member of the 11th. Grimmjow was far too overqualified to be enlisted as anything less than a lieutenant power-wise, but his violent personality combined with that of Zaraki's was a match made in hell. They might as well have turned the 11th into suicide arena if they were going to do that. The theme of the co-captainship was intended to be one of balance; that each squad leader should be the polarizing compliment to their counterpart. As such it was eventually decided that Grimmjow would co-captain in the 7th division alongside Komamura Sajin. Nel was appointed to the 11th in his stead. The other Espada were also given co-captain positions, with Harribel ending up in the 6th, Starrk in the 10th, and Ulquiorra, interestingly, being sent to the 13th. Harribel's fraccion followed her to her new division, and Ggio and Tesra found themselves enlisted to the 2nd and 3rd squads respectively.

The Quincy helped to take up some of the remaining co-captaincy spaces, with Jugram becoming a co-captain in the 3rd, Uryu becoming a co-captain in the 5th, and Bazz B becoming a co-captain of the 9th division since the original captains of those divisions already possessed Hollow abilities. The Quincy who were chosen as co-captain were chosen less for their spiritual skill, and more for their leadership abilities, at Urahara's suggestion. The other Quincy's who functioned as their subordinates were purposefully ranked in order of the relevance and reliability of their unique abilities. It was decided that the Quincy section of the gotei would primarily be utilized as a special ops-group, whose powers would be relied on heavily during missions that required their expertise in Reishi manipulation.

Orihime, as a special case, was made part of a blended program between the Kido Corps and the 4th Division. Chad found himself in the 7th Division under Grimmjow's command, but the other full-bringers such as Yukio and Riruka found themselves in the 12th under Urahara. All of the visored were offered positions in the reformed gotei, but Hachigen and Love chose to forego positions in the militia, instead choosing to become instructors for the academy under the new curriculum.

To everyone's surprise, the Soutaichou had been against giving Ichigo a co-captaincy position. He had instead insisted on him becoming the new lieutenant of the 1st division. While many of the existing captains were initially shocked by the decision, realization soon donned on them; the Soutaichou chose Ichigo as his new lieutenant because he had intentions of making Ichigo his successor when the time came for him to leave the ranks. Ichigo's unique position as a total hybrid made him the perfect choice as the future leader of such a diverse militia.

The "move in" day was a mess for all involved; several fights broke out as disgruntled Shinigami who were against the inclusion of Arrancar and Quincy took to the use of violence to get their point across. Fortunately for the coordinators of the transition, the members of both attacked parties seemed to handle the situation exceedingly well. The orientation that followed afterward went significantly smoother, but was still met with some obstacles.

Grimmjow especially seemed to struggle with the transition the most; years of being a free agent made structure hard for him to adhere to. On his third day on the job he'd disappeared after not even 5 minutes into the work day. Under the threat of harsh reprimand he hadn't made a repeat of that incident. But a few of the squad members in the 7th, including his lieutenant, Hiyori, noticed he had recently established in the most recent weeks of the eight months since he'd been in the Seireitei. Grimmjow would always leave an hour before the work day had come to an end in a noticeably sour mood, only to return after approximately 35 minutes with renewed vigor. Hiyori had flippantly jibbed that he spent his time stalking women, much to the amusement of the members of the 7th division. Unbeknownst to those in the division that laughed at her jibe, Hiyori wasn't that far off from the truth.

.

.

Like any good hunter he took time to observe and understand his target. He learned her routine by heart, catalogued each gesticulation she made and estimated the likelihood that she would deviate from her set pattern. She was certainly a creature of habit as he'd noted over the past few weeks. His reason had been simple; after being plagued by the pet name she had given him (blue's clues) he had finally set about finding answers when she refused to give any. He'd been met with varying reactions from those he inquired to. Some were completely unaware of what "blue's clues" was and others responded with barely contained laughter, much to his chagrin. After some 'assertive negotiation' (see: bullying) towards one of the lower ranked officers of the 12th he was able to learn about this strange human world term. His reaction had not been pleasant when he discovered what the sassy Raven had been calling him. Apparently 'Blue's Clue's' was the name of a children's television show which featured an animal with a penchant for leaving clue's, whose name was unsurprisingly 'Blue'. It hadn't bothered him that she likened him to a children's show character, much. No, _what_ the character was as opposed to the fact that it was a character at all was what bothered him. 'Blue' was a furry blue dog. A dog. A blue, spotted **dog**. Her insult had suddenly taken on a whole new level of offensiveness once he'd figured out what she'd been calling him all this time. He was a panther, the stateliest of the feral cats; not some mangy house pet. He'd even learned that 'Magenta', as Tatsuki had come to call Riruka, was the name of another dog on the show. He'd decided not to share that piece of information with the fullbringer however, lest she think he was trying to implicate a connection between them through that avenue. Despite her forwardness, he just couldn't bring himself to like Riruka enough to screw around.

His only focus was getting the human-turned-shinigami in his sights to make up for her err. The darker side of him had a few choice ways that the foxy young woman could make it up to him in mind, but the rational side of him knew that those options were unlikely to happen given her general regard for him. For now, he figured, he'd settle on a simple apology and perhaps the opportunity to place himself into her good graces.

Grimmjow turned his attentions back to Tatsuki as she continued to walk back to the home she shared with her best friend. He let his reiatsu loose slightly, making sure that it brushed against her own just barely enough to remind her of his presence. Over the past few weeks since he'd been tailing Tatsuki he'd made it a habit to heighten her senses by brushing his stifled energy against her own. It was part of the game to let her know he was there without saying anything.

He watched as goosebumps formed on her exposed skin in reaction to the purposed brush of his reiatsu. She kept her countenance composed otherwise, not so much as a fluctuation in her gait was to be seen. A deep frown marred his feral features at the unsatisfying reaction he'd gotten out of her. Usually when he used his reiatsu on her she would react with a jump or a jolt. Even on the days when she didn't react so openly, her aura became visibly frazzled as would be evident in the way she would stiffen up and quicken her pace as she made her way back home. But today, none of that happened; it was as if he didn't exist. He tried again, this time allowing a copious wave of his reiatsu to wash over her person. No reaction. He'd sworn that by now she would have said something about his presence, but the woman was clearly as stubborn as he was.

.

.

Tatsuki wasn't expecting him to start up a conversation.

For weeks now Grimmjow been tailing her as she walked back home from her academy lessons and onmitsukido training. Before becoming an official Shinigami, Tatsuki had approached Yoruichi for lessons on how to hone her martial arts skills to use in combat against spiritual beings. The result of that request lead to a brief training stint between the two before the war put an end to it all. Since Yoruichi had reclaimed her role as Onmitsukido commander, as a favor she had allowed Tatsuki to enroll in the onmitsukido in a grunt position as she concurrently took lessons at the academy. The result of such an arrangement was a very busy Tatsuki who spent nearly every day walking to and from the academy, HQ, and the home she shared with Orihime. For the life of her, Tatsuki couldn't understand what the sky-haired arrancar got out of silently walking her home every day. The weirdest part was the fact that he remained entirely silent during the duration of her trek home, his reiatsu being the only thing there to remind her of his presence. The way he would brush his reiatsu against her drove her up the wall each time he did it. It wasn't necessarily abrasive, but there was something extremely discomfiting about a caress of energy coming from a person she could hardly stand.

The bastard was arrogant and loud; two traits she couldn't stand. She didn't care if he could back up the cockiness that oozed off of his person; a warrior of merit would've just let his skill speak for itself. And then there was that stupid smirk of his that would form on his lips whenever they locked gazes for a moment too long, as if he'd won something whenever he managed to capture her focus. He was vain too; the man was acutely aware of how physically attractive he was, clearly revelling in the attention he got from most women. The girls at the academy would swoon and berate Tatsuki with questions about the new Captain when they discovered that he'd been escorting her to and from her home. They all seemed crestfallen when Tatsuki tersely informed them that she had no juicy details to give them about the 7th Division's newest member. They all seemed to think she was holding out on them, but in truth she hardly knew the guy.

At first she had been content to let him get on with his silent observations, figuring that he'd get bored and quit after a while. But several weeks went by and he was still there waiting at the gate for her at the end of her day. Her first confidant had been Orihime, who unfortunately did not have an answer that she wanted to hear. Orihime had told her that their 'flirting' had given him the impressions that she was interested in his company. Tatsuki hardly thought that her pointing out his idiocy constituted flirting, but she didn't bother arguing with her strawberry blonde roommate. The second person she had broached the issue with was Yoruichi, hoping that the older woman could offer some insight on his strange behaviour. Yoruichi had found great amusement in Tatsuki's complaints. Her only advice would be to ignore him until he couldn't take it anymore. Cats were complex creatures she'd explained; their reasons would never be illuminated until they chose to do so in their own sweet time.

"You've got some nerve you know squirrel-mane" were the first words to leave his lips.

"You shouldn't talk to yourself Jaegerjaquez-san, people might find out that you're a nut job" she replied without looking back at him.

He grinned at her feisty retort. "Who's the real nut job here? The guy who talks to himself or the weird chick that answers him?" he asked.

Tatsuki shot him a cross look in response.

"You're the one with nerve! You've been following me nonstop for months without uttering a word, but you're calling me crazy? Speaking of which, why the hell have you been tailing me?"

"Because you owe me an apology." Grimmjow said seriously

Tatsuki looked at him confusedly. "For what?"

"I found out what that blue's clues bullshit is."

"Are you a 5-year-old girl? Who stalks someone over a pet name?" she asked incredulously. She couldn't believe the reason he was giving her.

"You've been calling me a fucking dog! An ugly one too! Do I look like an ugly blue dog to you?!" He fumed.

"Is this a trick question?" she deadpanned, earning her a sharp glare and low growl from the panther hollow.

She let out a hearty laugh at his reaction, which only proved to further anger the blue haired man. Not particularly desiring an explosive spat, Tatsuki sobered up and spoke more seriously this time.

"Alright, alright. I'm _sorry_ for calling you a dog, but I never would have said it if you didn't start calling me 'squirrel-mane'"

"That's completely different. You actually have a squirrel-mane" he retorted arrogantly.

Tatsuki narrowed her eyes at the arrogant bastard that was walking next to her. "Well then I take back my apology. I called you blue's clues because you're an ugly blue haired idiot and the name suits you" she huffed before upping her pace and walking off.

Grimmjow Sonido'd right in front of her, blocking her path and causing her to bump into his chest.

"Now you know as well as I do that you don't think I'm ugly" he said in a low tone as he lowered his face to level hers.

She raised an eyebrow at his forwardness. "You're not much to look at" she said before sidestepping him and continuing about her way. This time he grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.

"Where the hell am I ugly?!" He demanded, using his free hand gesture at his person. He may not have been the smartest or the kindest, but he'd always prided himself on how dashing he was. She was bullshitting herself and him if she thought otherwise.

"Your personality, for starters" she responded sharply as she shrugged him off.

Intent on continuing the conversation, Grimmjow kept up with the petite woman, his stride easily matching hers.

"What does my personality have to do with anything?"

"An ugly personality will make you an ugly person through and through. Tight abs and tattoos can't redeem you" she said matter-of-factly. It was true for her; despite his physical beauty, she found his arrogance so off-putting that it was difficult to see beyond that fatal character flaw.

He made a face at her words. "So you're one of them mind-sexual types eh?"

"You mean _sapio_-sexual. And yes, to a degree I am a sapio-sexual. There's nothing a man can do for me if his mind and personality aren't attractive to me." she said

"You mean to tell me you'd bone Omaeda if he 'stimulated' you mentally?" he said with a laugh.

Tatsuki choked on her own saliva as the thought of her and Omaeda popped into her head. It was nauseating to say the least.

"No!" She croaked in between her coughs. "Looks matter! And Omaeda's personality is unattractive too so he's a bad example."

Grimmjow grinned satisfactorily at her response. "So you admit that you find me physically attractive?"

"Your looks are immaterial because your personality is ugly" she answered evasively.

"You hardly even know my personality" he said defensively

She shot him a look. "A person with a nice personality wouldn't stalk me over a nickname"

He frowned at her reference to his observation skills as stalking. He was a panther; he couldn't help his nature.

"I made you laugh when we were cooped up in that mansion didn't I? I can't be all that bad"

She paused before she replied, remembering their time in the mansion months ago. She had to admit, he did make her laugh a few times and his company was at times enjoyable, but he was still an asshole as far as she was concerned.

"You're still not good" she countered after a moment

"Give me one night and I'll prove you wrong"

She gave him a blank look as he stared her down. The tone of his voice wasn't suggestive, but she'd learned over the years with men there didn't need to be any suggestion in their tone of voice for their intent to be sexual. Grimmjow's countenance was surprisingly open, she'd noted with some intrigue. She wasn't completely oblivious; she'd picked up on the attraction the Sexta Espada had for her relatively early on since their meeting, but she'd never chosen to pay it any attention. If she were truthful with herself, she could admit to being attracted to the blue haired man as well, but his personality and his seemingly obvious intent made had firmly placed him in the no-go zone months earlier. She wasn't foolish enough to believe he was interested in having anything other than a no-strings-attached hookup, and quite frankly she wasn't interested in being his first piece of human ass.

"'One night'?" she questioned with some slight irritation.

"Hey," he said putting his hands up, "I don't mean it like that unless you want it like that" he added with a playful wink.

She rolled her eyes at his flirtation "Then what do you mean?"

"I'll take you out and show you what I'm really like."

"I lived with you for two weeks, I already know what you're like" she replied petulantly

"It's just one night" he insisted, his piercing blue eyes locking on to her own.

"I'd really rather not…" she murmured as she began to walk again.

"I'll stop following you if you do" he called after, effectively stopping her in her tracks.

"Are you being serious?" she asked as she turned around to look at him.

He nodded.

"Deal" she said almost too quickly, earning a raised brow from the Arrancar. He knew he wasn't exactly her favourite person, but he hadn't expected her to be so eager at the prospect of him leaving her alone. He decided not to dwell on it however; he'd been successful in his objective and that was what mattered.

He flashed her a toothy grin as he shoved his hands in his pockets "Saturday then?"

"Saturday it is" she agreed.

"See you then, _Tatsuki_" he said as stopped walking beside her.

He didn't wait for her to say anything after that, launching into a purposeful sonido as he headed back in the direction of the 7th division barracks. Tatsuki watched him as he sped off a bit stunned by the Panther Arrancar's actions. To her recollection, that was the first time he'd ever called her by her proper name. She shook her head as she took a moment processed their exchange. This Saturday would certainly be interesting.

* * *

**A/N: Hoorah for GrimmTsuki! I wasn't too happy with this chapter, but I didn't want any of my readers to wait any longer for updates. I'm not sure when i'll update next as I still have to update Unconventional Unions and school+work has been keeping me busy. Hopefully the next update will be soon though. Until next time my lovely readers!**


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